i ain't shit ('cause I don't have time to knit anymore)

Last post I mentioned I didn't think I'd be able to go to Rhinebeck like I wanted to this year. But, thanks to Erin and her mom, Bean and I will be heading out in the morning for a one-day survey of the festivities! Yay!! I'm excited. I'm not sure why I'm excited, really, because (as noted in the title of this post), I have zero time to knit anymore. Seriously - the last time I did any knitting at all was the weekend of the last time I made it to Starbux, October 1st-2nd. Before that, the last knitting I did was, I think, before my birthday on 9/20. I'm literally going weeks between stitches. And it's all the fault of school. Think of all the knitting I could do if I didn't have to do homework, write lab reports and papers, go to class and recitations, and hit up all my TAs' office hours! The mind boggles. I'd at least have one finished project for the season by now.

As it is, I'm still plugging away on the Wonderful Wallaby for my nephew Adler. It's actually going pretty quickly, considering I've barely had any time to work on it at all (the advantage of knitting for small children, eh?). I've already joined the pouch up, and here is where I ran into a weird problem: when I joined the pouch and body of the sweater, it seemed like I had way too many rows on the sweater without corresponding pocket rows (so the body was kind of warping and baggy behind the pocket). I tinked it, then ripped back a few rows and tried the join again, making sure to count the number of rows I had on the pocket so I could match them on the body. And it looks a bit better now, but it still looks too baggy on the body behind the pocket. Diana, if you happen to read this - you're the one who's done that pattern more than anyone else I know (plus, you gave me the pattern). Is this a problem you've ever had, or am I just some kind of freak? I know the whole thing will probably work itself out with some blocking, and heck, it's for a two-year-old, I know I don't need to be so careful with the details. But since I'm doing the pattern for the first time, I just want to make sure I'm not totally screwing up, y'know?

Anyway, pocket weirdness aside, I'm still at a bit of a difficult spot now, because I don't know how long to knit the body before I start on the sleeves! I forgot to take a measurement of the kid last time my sister-in-law & her husband came to visit, and I have no idea how long it'll be before I get to see them again. Does anyone know roughly how long a size 3T-4T should be? The kid is 2, but he's big for his age, and growing like... uh... something that grows really fast. I'm following the directions in the pattern for a size 4, and the circumference looked about right when I held it up to him. But the pattern doesn't explicitly say how long to make it.

So... I might be putting the Wallaby aside for a little while, until I can figure this out. But that's okay, because I have scarves I've promised people which need to be finished, 'cause cold weather is coming soon - much, much more quickly than I realized, because I tend to forget that fall doesn't exist in the 'Cuse. We have 3 seasons here: Too Hot, Too Cold, and Mud Season. Literally - remember last week, how it was still so ridiculously warm for early October? It was like, 80 degrees out! And then whoosh! Over the course of about a day and a half, we skipped right over autumn and went straight into the dreary gray and cold of winter. Okay, it's not quite cold enough yet to really be called winter, but it has been downright nasty out, hasn't it? And the way it's been so cold and rainy, but not quite cold enough to suggest snow? That's exactly what winters are like back in VA. We haven't yet had any of the glorious fall days like I love, where it's crisp in the morning, but warm enough for a short-sleeve t-shirt by the afternoon. Highs around 63, totally clear, bright blue skies. None of this perpetual soggy, damp, gray wretchedness. The only tiny consolation I can glean from this cold snap is that I get to break out all the winter gear I've produced since last season (those Araucania chunky Nature Wool fingerless gloves, that bright green Caron Bliss ruffle scarf... pretty soon it'll be time for the hats, too).

Oh, right, but like I was saying - if I put the Wallaby aside - should I finish the scarf for Bill first, or start on that Dr. Who scarf I promised the DH? On the one hand, Bill's scarf is almost half done already, and it's a big, chunky, quick-knit thing. If I just hurry up and finish it, I can get it off my couch and get those needles back so I can use them for something else, and fulfill my obligation to Bill so he can be toasty as he walks from the parking garage up the hill to work every day. But on the other hand, the Dr. Who scarf is huge. It's going to take me ages to finish that, anyway - it's like, 15 feet long! Maybe I should really hurry up and get started on it - because, as I mentioned, Bill's scarf is a chunky, quick-knit thing which I could, in theory, finish off quite quickly should he start to wonder where his promised neckwear is. Eh - I dunno. I guess I'll figure it out soon. Soon like, in the morning, because I need something to work on on the trip to Rhinebeck... Wheee, yarn shopping! I'm so excited I can hardly wait! But first! I really ought to update my yarn stash spreadsheet so I know what I already have and just what I am allowed to buy more of... hee hee...